


A chilly farewell

by RaidouKuzunoha



Category: Saint Seiya, 聖闘士星矢黄金魂 | Saint Seiya: Soul of Gold
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-03
Updated: 2015-09-03
Packaged: 2018-04-18 21:04:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4720367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaidouKuzunoha/pseuds/RaidouKuzunoha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shortly after their mysterious revival in Asgard, Aphrodite is stranded with Deathmask in a cabin during a blizzard. As they soon find out, however, they aren't the only ones trapped out there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A chilly farewell

As night fell, the temperature dropped steadily as the light disappeared from the sky. Pisces Aphrodite was lucky the storm hit Asgard when it did, as he had earlier the same day found a place to stay. However, he was still a bit disappointed that he was prevented from looking around the village he had found himself in because of the raging storm. The recently resurrected Pisces Saint was confused as to how and why had he been brought back from the dead for a third time; it didn’t make sense for them to be alive again after they all sacrificed themselves on the Wailing Wall to clear the path to Elysium for the Bronze Saints.

Aphrodite couldn’t keep his eyes away from the window. He found that watching snow gust and cover the the ground made him relieved in some way, maybe because he had never thought he would get to see a scene like that. But he had a feeling that whatever the reason for their new lives was, they would end up back in the afterlife eventually. So being stuck inside the cabin all night made him uneasy. He wanted to enjoy what little time he had left.

At least he wasn’t alone in that terrible storm. Earlier that day he had encountered Cancer Deathmask near a flower shop. Deathmask wasn’t the best company to have, but he was better than nothing. With the appearance of the other man the Pisces Saint knew that he wasn’t the only one who was resurrected, and his theory about the twelve Gold Saints having a new mission was confirmed. But seeing the Cancer Saint made him relieved for more than one reason, even though he didn’t want to admit it.

The sound of a sneeze made his eyes wander from the window to the sofa. Aphrodite had thought that with his companion he could at least have some _“fun”_ in the snow storm…but the white haired Saint clearly had a different plan. He was covered by five different blankets, trying to find warmth in whatever he could.

Aphrodite wasn’t able to hold back his laughter at the sight of the shivering saint. It was quite a thing to behold, but sitting next to the fireplace didn’t sound like such a bad idea. The long haired man slowly made his way to the sofa to sit next to Deathmask, who didn’t seem to  want to stop shivering any time soon.

“You look absolutely pathetic, darling.” The Pisces Saint giggled.

_“_ _Vaffanculo."_ ¹ _  
_

Almost as soon as Aphrodite sat on the couch however, he felt Deathmask’s arms reach out to him. Deathmask pulled the other man towards him and into the welcoming warmth of the blankets, wrapping them around the Pisces Saint’s arms so that the many blankets were covering his shoulders as well. When Aphrodite, with a grin, finally settled himself against the Cancer Saint’s side, Deathmask leaned closer to him to whisper into his ear.

“Maybe some human warmth could help me…” with his arm still around Aphrodite’s neck, Deathmask pulled him into a kiss. Aphrodite, welcoming the familiar contact after so long, was quick to reciprocate. It seemed that Deathmask had the same train of thought, since the two of them soon deepened the kiss until it was something of a battle for either of them to breathe. However, a passionate kiss wasn’t the only thing the two enthusiastic men were seeking. They became quickly bored of the feeling of fabric on their fingertips as their hands wandered on each other’s backs. Slowly Aphrodite’s hands started getting lower, searching for the contact and warmth of the other man’s skin. As he slid his hands under Deathmask’s shirt, he was interrupted by a loud yelp.

 _“Che cazzo…!”_ ² yelled the alarmed Italian as he pushed the other man away. Aphrodite could only stare in confusion at Deathmask and his renewed shivering. Deathmask shot Aphrodite a look as if he had physically wounded him.

“Your hand is fucking cold!”

“I didn't  know the so-called ‘fearsome Cancer Saint’ was such a weenie.”

 _“Vai a farti fottere_ ³ _, ‘_ _Dite.”_

Before the somewhat aggravated Pisces Saint could reply to the insult, a sudden wave of cosmo washed over the pair of them. It felt like the person giving off this cosmo was nearby. But more importantly, it felt _familiar._

Silence.

What had seemed to be a very restless night suddenly fell silent. The cosmos they had felt seconds ago disappeared as fast as it appeared. After staring at each other without saying a word for a few moments, Aphrodite rushed to the nearest window, leaving Deathmask watching his every step.

Outside the window only the dark night and multiple layers of cold snow could be seen. It took a few seconds for Aphrodite’s vision to adapt to the darkness outside, but when they adjusted he finally saw it: a black figure in the distance, getting smaller with every second that passed as it moved away.

Deathmask, still staring at every movement the Pisces Saint made as if he tried to gather as much information he could get without hearing anything from him, realized that Aphrodite’s expression changed while looking out of the window. It was obvious that he had seen something.

“Do you think it’s…” He was unable to finish the question as Aphrodite had already burst out of the cabin without a second thought… after all they had felt that person’s cosmos. Even if he was as anxious as Aphrodite to see what was out there the Italian was too cold and frankly too lazy to run behind the other Saint to see what was out there. The only thing he could do was stare at the open door that was letting a heavy, cold breeze leak into the room.

“Fuck you ‘Dite, you could have at least closed it…” he mumbled to himself, waiting for Aphrodite’s return.

———

The night was dark, and the blizzard was still raging. It made it difficult to see, but sight wasn’t what was guiding the Pisces Saint. He was guided purely by the cosmos he had felt earlier. It felt slightly closer with each step he took.

The cosmos was so weak that he hadn’t even realized he had gone right past the owner until he could sense that they were behind him.

Looking back seemed useless. He hadn’t seen anything remotely close to what he was expecting to find, yet it was still worth the shot.

As expected there was nothing behind him, and other than the howling wind that blew as the snow fell, there was no other sound… it made his fast heartbeat even more uncomfortable in his chest after running all the way here.

He didn’t look down until he’d decided to go back to the cabin. When he finally did, however, he saw oddly shaped lump in the snow. A lump that looked like something had been recently buried there under the rapidly gathering snow. Quickly he dug through it with his bare hands, a painful task, but the pain was easily ignored given the situation. Soon enough he uncovered the man who had fallen victim of such and horrible weather.

Capricorn Shura.

His skin was terribly pale and his body didn’t even twitch when Aphrodite grabbed him, it was almost as if he was a corpse preserved in the snow. His terrible state was painful to look at but the Saint knew he had to act fast, it didn’t seem like the frozen man had much time left _… if_ he had any time left _at all._

Carefully he lifted the body with both of his arms, one under Shura’s legs and the other one around his back. It was hard to feel any life remaining on him even from where he was, that close to his body, but there was still a tiny presence of his cosmos left, and that’s what Aphrodite decided to cling to for hope as he walked back in the direction he came from.

———

The cabin door was still open when he reached it, making it easier for Aphrodite to get inside with both of his hands busy carrying the cold, unresponsive body of the Capricorn Saint. Once he took the first steps inside the cabin, Deathmask finally decided to do something useful and closed the door for him, leaving all of the blankets that were previously covering him on top of the sofa.

Aphrodite slowly and gently laid Shura on the sofa since it was close to the fireplace, and he _really_ needed warmth in his body soon. With that same train of thought, he used the blankets Deathmask left behind to cover his body.

After wrapping him up, Aphrodite and Deathmask stared at the man who could barely breathe on the sofa trying to silently think of what they could do next to help the state of the third Saint in that room.

“Maybe we should give him some of that human warmth…”  Deathmask said, leaning on the wall near the door. He hadn’t moved from there since he stood up to close the door, only staring at the other two from the distance this entire time.

“It’s not time for your stupid jokes” The reply was fast and the anger could be felt without looking at his face. Aphrodite was still kneeling next to the sofa, and he wasn’t having any of Deathmask’s bullshit.

“…It wasn't  a joke.”

It took a second for Aphrodite to realize what the Cancer Saint meant.

Many times he had heard about how the contact of human bodies could make their temperature rise faster. It was an actual good idea, but who could honestly trust what came from the mouth of the biggest asshole of the Sanctuary?

There wasn’t enough space for three people to lay down on the sofa unless one was on top of the other two. Which was probably a bad idea, seeing as Shura could barely breathe. So Aphrodite decided to take up that task himself.

The blue haired man lifted the blankets covering Shura just enough so that he could get under them next to him. Gently he put his arm on top of Shura’s torso, feeling his cold body pressed against him, trying his best to transfer the warmth of his own body to the other with the hug.

Many minutes had passed. Deathmask no longer had any more wood left to throw inside the fireplace and Aphrodite was beginning to lose hope as he hugged the other man tighter.

“Do you think… he’ll wake up…?” he asked nervously as he looked up at the man he was embracing tightly. It was a question he had in mind since all of this started, but asking it was painful enough that he hadn’t wanted to do it before.

“What? Do you want me to go check the Yomotsu?”

“How can you say that in a moment like this?”

“How can you ask such a dumbass question if you can still feel his pulse?”

They both fell silent.

Aphrodite realized his question basically meant _“Do you think he’ll live?”_ Maybe he was in fact the one that had asked an inappropriate question… at least not something he should ask considering it was about the person he was holding close. Shura was as important to the two of them as they were to him, even if the two sometimes had problems showing the Capricorn Saint that they cared.

“I think I’m going for a walk…” Deathmask mumbled, finally breaking the silence after some moments.

“…Outside?”

“How stupid do you think I am?”

“Well if you remember how you died the first time, you would realize you aren't  exactly the smartest of all Saints.”

They began arguing once again, almost as an excuse to fill the horrible silence that had been present since Aphrodite had come back with Shura in his arms. Their discussion was exactly what they wanted, a distraction. They were trying to find a way to forget the terrible situation they were in. But the distraction was maybe a little too good, as Aphrodite failed to notice the beating heart next to him had grown stronger.

A loud cough stopped the two Saints from yelling at each other as they snapped their heads around to look at the other man who was laying on the sofa.

Shura’s gaze looked hazy and disoriented. He blinked a few times while staring at the ceiling without any other movement. Slowly, painfully so, he finally turned his head to see Aphrodite, who was no longer lying down but sitting next to him and alert. Shura moved to sit up like the Saint next to him, carefully, as he was still trying to regain his consciousness. He had no idea what had happened, or why the other two were staring at him as if something of a miracle had happened. The other two did nothing else but stare at him silently until he finally spoke.

“Wha—“Before he could even utter a complete word, Shura was interrupted by Aphrodite who had flung his arms around him again. Aphrodite had been waiting for him to prove he was alright before embracing him again, and the little he said was all Aphrodite needed for him to feel like everything was going to be fine.

Shura was startled by the hug for a few seconds but when he was finally let go, he reciprocated the it by putting his own arms around the Saint who was clearly so very glad to see him again.

“What happened?” he began slowly, “I barely remember anything, We should be dead…the Wailing Wa—“ 

“Oh, shut up” replied Aphrodite as he moved his hands to the back of Shura’s head to pull him towards him and cover his cold face with kisses, eventually moving to his lips where Aphrodite lingered. The long kiss made Shura realize that whatever had happened must have been bad, really bad.  He wisely decided to save the questions for later, not that voicing his questions was even possible at the moment with his lips captured in Aphrodite’s.

A while had passed and the Pisces Saint looked nowhere near finished with the tender kisses, making Shura pat the back of the man who had no intention of freeing him yet as a sign that it was time to stop.

“Don’t you dare do that ever again.” said Aphrodite with fervency once the kiss was broken. Was he talking about giving him a signal to stop the kiss? Or what had happened to him before he lost consciousness? Whatever it was Shura decided to just nod silently.

“Are you both having fun?” asked Deathmask, who was still leaning on the wall. His expression had relaxed significantly from when Aphro had brought their half-dead partner into the cabin.

“Ah, I forgot you were there for a second” even after all that had happened Aphrodite wasn’t going to lose a chance to mock the Cancer Saint, as it was quite entertaining…and besides it helped to lighten the mood.

“Shut it ‘Dite. Does he seem to be physically hurt?”

Aphrodite took his eyes off of Deathmask to inspect Shura’s body once more. Aside from it still having a low temperature he was completely unharmed.

“No, he seems fine…”

“Good” Deathmask said firmly as he finally moved from the wall and walked towards the arm of the sofa that was the farthest to the other two Saints who were still sitting near the other end, glaring down at them with a huge grin on his face.

“ Wait, don’t you da—“

It was too late. Before Aphrodite could finish his warning Deathmask had already leapt towards them, his body slamming on top of the both of them forcing the two saints back to the original position they were laying in earlier. He tightly hugged them both before he turned towards Shura. Aphrodite wasn’t the only one dying to kiss Shura again after all they had been through. The three of them had died and revived so many times, but not in any of those times had the three been able to be together again, or more accurately together and away from the battlefield. They had a lot of catching up to do.

Deathmask’s kiss felt as long as Aphrodite’s, but Shura couldn’t complain about either of the kisses he just received, they not only felt good but they also brought warmth into his lips and body, warmth he really needed.

After Deathmask finally decided to leave Shura’s lips alone he kept his head pressed between the other two as he still an arm around each of them.

“You know you ’re heavy, right?” Shura could finally speak without being interrupted.

“Hey, it ’s called human warmth! Now quiet down.”

Not long after that, they decided to move their caresses and kisses elsewhere. After all, Deathmask and Aphrodite already had had plans for the night, and the unexpected visit of the third Saint was _anything but_ an interruption to their plans. They swiftly moved the bedroom, exchanging kisses between the three as they helped each other out of their clothing. They had the ease and practice of three people who had been together for a long time. It was even hard at that point to imagine one of them without the other two. Once they started they made it clear that they were going to spend the night together as if it was going to be the last one.

 

————————

 

The sunlight carefully illuminated Aphrodite’s beautiful pale skin, yet the light wasn’t what made the Pisces Saint wake up… something was missing.

In normal circumstances Shura was usually the first one to wake up in the mornings, yet something did not feel right and the empty space in the middle of the bed between him and Deathmask made Aphrodite feel uneasy. He was only relieved when the door to the bedroom creaked open.

“Sorry, did I wake you up?” Shura looked concerned as he entered the room- he clearly expected no one to be awake yet. Aphrodite’s unease returned and was visibly bigger once he saw that the other man was carrying a bag, almost like he was ready to leave somewhere for a long time. Aphrodite raised an eyebrow quizzically.

“Are you planning in going somewhere?” he asked while still reclining under the bed sheets.

There was a long silence before Shura decided to answer, as if he was trying to find the right words to say to not aggravate the powerful Saint in front of him.

“ If we weren ’t the only Saints that were brought to life there ’s something important I need to do…you can say it ’s a personal mission I must complete.”

“… Personal mission?”

“There’s a debt I must repay to one—no, two of the other Gold Saints… after all It’s my fault that…” he felt silent once again. Shura knew perfectly well the mistakes he had committed in the past in his search for real justice. He would constantly think about every single one of his mistakes but saying them out loud made him feel worse about them, if possible.

Shura’s emotional state wasn’t easy to read, or at least it wasn’t for outsiders of the trio. Even if he sometimes had problems telling what was wrong, Aphrodite knew exactly what to do to stop him from sulking in self-hate.

“When are you coming back?” the answer was already clear to the Pisces Saint, yet he needed to distract Shura before he began to think about more than he needed to.

“Aphrodite…” Shura walked across the room to Aphrodite, kneeling a little and turning the other saint’s head so that he could kiss Aphrodite’s forehead as he gently stroked the beautiful man’s hair with the same hand he had used to pull him closer.

“Tell Deathmask I ’m sorry…”

But before he could move away from that position he felt two arms reach to snake around his neck, followed by a gentle kiss on the lips. Aphrodite had a feeling that this was the last time he was going to be able to see Shura. After all… they still hadn’t figured out the why they had been brought back and neither did they know for how much longer would they stay that way.

“I’ll be going now…” Shura whispered after the kiss ended, their arms still around each other. The longer he stayed there the more difficult it would be for him to leave, even more if the other man who was still sleeping on his stomach across from them on the bed woke up.

“…I love you.”

And with those last whispered words, Shura was finally able to let go of one of those two men whom he loved.

Without saying another word the Capricorn Saint made his way to exit the cabin. He felt that if he looked back he wouldn’t be able to leave, so he was determined to not give a second glance at the two people he cared for the most.

The sound of the front door clicking shut behind him seemed to ring through the silence like a death knell. Shura was gone.

“You aren’t gonna go after him?” Deathmask finally lifted his face from the pillow, just to leave his chin resting on it instead. Aphrodite sighed.

“So you were awake?”

“Does it matter?”

“…You know him as well as I do, we wouldn't  have been able to change his mind.”

“He sure is stubborn when it comes to things like this.”

“Tell me about it…”

“…”

“Hey Deathmask…”

“Yeah?”

“…Nothing…” Aphrodite laid back in bed as he trailed off, giving Deathmask the opportunity to bring him closer by wrapping his arms around him.

“…Me too, ‘Dite.”

**Author's Note:**

> ¹Vaffanculo: Fuck you  
> ²Che cazzo: What the fuck  
> ³Vai a farti fottere: Go fuck yourself


End file.
